Gearless differential



A. F. FORD.

GEARLESS DIFFERENTIAL, APPLICATION FILED JUNE8, 1920.

1,365,586. Patented Jan. 11,1921.

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GEARLESS DIFFERENTIAL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8,1920.

1,865,586, Y Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

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UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW F. FORD, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

GEARLESS DIFFERENTIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

Application filed June 8, 1920. Serial No. 387,340.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW F. FORD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in GearlessDifferentials, of which the following is a to both sides of thedifferential. I

A further object is to provide a differential that will provide power toboth sides at once and that while one side may crawl, the lagging sidewill maintain its motion as it receives the full power.

A further object is to provide a differential having no ears.

A further ob ect is to provide a differential that is simple toconstruct and that is relatively cheap to manufacture due to all machinework being truly circular.

With these and other objects in view, reference is now had to theaccompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the devicepartly in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation with one end removed; a

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the cup shaped driven member;

Fig. ,4 is a sectional view of the cylindrical tubular driving member;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the cylindri'cal drivingmember; I Fig. 6is an end view of a wedge block;

Fig. 7 is an end elevation ofthe cylindrical driven member;

Fig. 8 is an end elevation of shaped driven member.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the parts assemled, showing wedge blocks inracing position.

Fig. 10 is a similar view, but with wedge block gripping. v s

Fig. 11 is another view with the wedge blocks in another grippingposition; and

the cup Fig. 12 is another similar view with the wedge blocks in anothergripping position. Having reference to the drawings, like numerals referto like parts throughout and the numeral 1 refers to the cup-shapeddriven member which consists of a bore 2 whlch is truly cylindrical andpositioned eccentrically in the member throughout approximately one-halfits length. A second bore 3 is also positioned eccentrically therein butdiametrically opposite the first mentioned bore, (as plainly shown inFig. 3), and between these bores is a guide portion 4 which separates ordivides the bores and acts as a bearing for the cylindrical tubulardriving member 5.

The diameter of the bores are preferably alike and the diameter of theguide ortion is obviously smaller as it unites w1th the sides of leasteccentricity of both the bores.

In the cup shaped driven member is shown a bearing stud 6 which may beused if desired to support one end of the cylindrical driven member 7,and integral with this cup shaped driven member is shown a portion of ashaft 8 which represents a power transmitting means.

It will be understood that this means may be removably mounted in themember without departfing from the spirit of my invention.

The cylindrical tubular driving member 5 consists of the tube as shownin Fig. 4 and has attached thereto a driving means such as shown at 9which represents a gear in this case.

Movably mounted in the walls of this cylinder and on quarters are wedgeblocks 10, 11 and'12 respectively, the movement and position I of whichwill be presently explained.

This driving member 5 is 'revolubly mounted in the cup shaped drivenmember 1 and is maintainedfin a central position therein by the guideportion 4 which also acts as a bearing point therefor.

The cylindrical driven member 7 is eccentricallymount'ed inthe drivingmember 5, the eccentricity being maintained by the guide portion 13which is concentric with the shaft 14 and the inner perimeter of thepower transmitting means. In the opposite end of this driven member isprovided a journal 15 which registers with the bearing stud 6.

With the parts shown in Figs. 3, l and 5 assembled they would form aView similar to that shown in section in Fig. 1 in which the side ofgreatest eccentricity of the cylindrical driven member 7 is in contactwith the inner portion of the wedge block 12, while its opposite side isin contact with the block 11; the blocks are shortened slightly to givea small amount of play between the parts.

As the driving member is rotated the blocks are carried with it 'untilthe back lash is taken up and the blocks bind between the driven memberswhich will then rotate with the driving member.

By referring to the Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12, in which the variouspositions are shown, it may be seen that a slight movement of a drivenmember will change the position of the wedge blocks until they wedgebetween the two driven members carrying them along with the drivingmember; the slight movement being sufficient to change the concentricityof the members 1 and 7.

In Fig. 9 I show the parts assembled, in plan, with the wedge blocks 10in what is termed a racing position, i. e., with the members 1 and 7concentrically positioned so that the wedge blocks are free to move inthe race formed by thesemembers. In this position there is no grippingefi'ect in the bore 2, but there now occurs a gripping in the bore 3,see Fig. 11, as note the block 12 therein. In this view a slightmovement to the left of the members land 5 has occurred, which haschanged the concentricity. This view also shows the slight movementrequired to engage the blocks, the amount of movement of the parts 5 and1 with relation to the part 7 being indicated by the lines thereon; andin this respect it must be noted that this movement (back lash) isexaggerated as the blocks are purposely shortened to clearly show aclearance between the blocks and the bores.

In Fig. 10 it will be plainly noted that the parts are locked againsteither forward or backward movement, the forward movement and the backlash being clearly demonstrated in F1 12. It is obvious that'theeccentrically positioned bores in the cup shaped driven membermay have acommon center, provided the cylindrical driven member is constructedwith its eccentricity positioned on diametrically opposite sides, thusshowing that the order of construction may be reversed.

It is also obvious that a greater number of bores may be used ifdesired.

This application is an improvement over my former patent No. 1336950 anddated A ril 13, 1920.

v aving thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a differential, a cup shaped driven member formed by a pluralityof cylindrical bores eccentrically positioned therein, and a guideportion centrally positioned and dividing said bores, and carrying aninternal bearing stud therein, a cylindrical driving member revolublymounted in said cup shaped driven member and maintained centrally bysaid guide portion, and containing movably mounted wedgeblocks, acylindrical driven member eccentrically mounted in said driving member,to register operatively with said wedge blocks and carrying a concentricguide portion, and carrying ajournal to register with said bearing stud,and a power transmitting means attached to said driven members.

2. In a difi'erential, a on shaped driven member formed by a pluralityof cylindrical bores eccentrically positioned and centered diametrallyopposite each other, and a concentric guide portion dividing said bores,a cylindrical tubular driving member revolubly mounted in said cupshaped driven member and maintained centrally therein by means of saidguide portion, and containing movably mounted wedge blocks, acylindrisaid driving member, to register operatively a cylindricaltubular. driving member revolubly mounted and centrally positioned insaid cup shaped driven member, and containing a pluralit of movablymounted wedge blocks positioned on quarters within the wall thereof,said blocks being positioned to register operatively with theaforementioned bores, a cylindrical driven member eccentrically mountedin said driving member to register operatively with said wedge blocks,and carrying a concentric guide portion'to maintain the eccentricity ofsaid cylindrical driven member in said driving member, and a powertransmitting means attached to said driven members.

4. In a difierential, a cup shaped driven member formed by cylindricalbores of equal diameters and centered eccentrically and diametrallyopposite each other therein, a cylindrical tubular driving memberrevolubly mounted in said cup shaped driven 4 95 cal driven membereccentrically mounted 1n 4 and containing movably mounted. Wedge blocks,a cylindrical driven member eccentrically mounted in said driving memberand carrying a concentric guide portion, and power transmitting meansattached to said driven members.

5. In a differential, a cup shaped driven member having eccentric innerWalls, a cylindrical, tubular, driving member revolubly mounted in saidcup shaped driven member and containing movably mounted Wedge blocks, acylindrical driven member eccentrically mounted in said driving member,and power transmitting means attached to said driven members.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ANDREW F. FORD.

